borkena
February 12,2019
As Ethiopians are celebrating new statue of Emperor Haileselassie I erected in the premises of African Union headquarter, the statue of Ras Mekonen (Haileselassie’s father) in the premises of Harar hospital is destroyed.
Based on verified social media news (pictures of it is widely circulated), the incident happened today in one of Ethiopia’s multicultural city of Harar, in the south eat of the country.
Ras Mekonen’s statue was hit by a car and brought down.
Observers seem to believe that it was deliberately hit by political groups with radical anti-Ethiopia sentiment.
Dr. Mesele Terecha is a historian. He wrote in a facebook update today (in Amaharic), “What I can tell you with certitude is that Prince Ras Mekonnen’s statue in the former Misrak Arbegnoch hospital, now Jugel hospital, is that it was not hit accidentally. Because when I was working there, I have observed the level of wickedness with which it was seen.”
For most Ethiopians in social media, the act of destroying Prince Ras Mekonen’s statue has something to do with radical-ethno nationalist groups.
Groups with similar tendency have posting on social media picture mocking the new statue of emperor Haileselassie.
In the past, radicalized ethno-nationalists have been demonstrating sentiment of hate towards emperor Menelik’s statue in the center of Addis Ababa. At times, there were even calls to destroy it.
Harar city administration has not remarked about Prince Ras Mekonen’s statue and it is not clear if the city administration is electing it in the back in the same place or not.
Picture source : Social Media
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